The old saying, "what goes around, comes around," is actually a slang interpretation of the spiritual principle of Cause and Effect, which itself is derived from the biblical admonition that "what you sow is what you reap." It essentially means that every effect that you see or experience in the world had to have a cause. While at first glance this may appear to be a very simple and obvious concept, it has profound implications for every human being. What it means is that literally every single thought and feeling you experience is a cause that sets into motion an eventual effect. This insightful passage from Lynn Grabhorn's book "Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting" builds upon this point:

"Every time we think of anything, we're flowing some kind of positive or negative energy (feeling) toward whatever it is we're thinking about, and the litany never changes: as we think, we feel; as we feel, we vibrate; as we vibrate, we attract. Then we get to live the results."

It is critical that you comprehend the importance of this principle, for once you do, you better position yourself to realize your full potential for both personal and spiritual growth. At its most fundamental level, this principle states that the Universe is in fact a very sensitive energy field, and that whenever we make a choice to think, feel, speak or act in a certain way, we are emitting energy into this field that must return to us in comparable form. Put another way, the principle of cause and effect serves as our own personal 'boomerang', meaning it's very important that we make our best efforts to toss that boomerang out into the Universe with positive energy attached to it, for whatever we put out there will assuredly return to us in kind. According to Arnold Patent in his book, "You Can Have It All:"

"Energy flows out of our bodies like a signal or wavelength from a radio or television station. Each of us emits a very precise signal. Everyone and everything in our environment picks up certain of these signals. However, only those who are on the same wavelength respond to them -- The result then is that we attract into our lives those people and those circumstances, which are in alignment with the energy signals we emit."

Given the above premise, it is reasonable to conclude that everything that happens to us originated with a cause that we ourselves set into motion. The problem that most people have with this principle, however, is that they simply cannot understand how some effects can happen to them when they cannot consciously recall doing anything to cause them.

From all that I've read, it is my understanding that not all of our choices are made at the conscious-mind level, as over time all of us develop conditioned (i.e., subconscious) responses to a variety of stimuli. It can also be true that a cause set into motion in one area of life, may actually have its effect in an entirely different area, making it challenging for people to connect them.

One of the keys to spiritual growth therefore, is learning to discipline yourself to become more conscious about all of the decisions (i.e., choices) that you do make. In his book "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success," Deepak Chopra has some excellent advice regarding this:

"When you make any choice--any choice at all--you can ask yourself two things: First of all, '"What are the consequences of this choice that I am making?" In your heart you will immediately know what these are. Secondly, "Will this choice that I'm making now bring happiness to me and to those around me?"

As you begin to put this advice into practice, you'll be amazed at how many of your thoughts, feelings, and actions have been occurring on 'auto-pilot', so to speak. Over time we all become so conditioned, in both our thinking and in our behavior, that we really don't take the time to look upon the everyday situations we encounter in a new light. This is because our subconscious mind effectively operates as a powerful supercomputer, one that instantly evaluates any stimuli we encounter against its vast 'memory bank', to determine if we have experienced something comparable to it in the past.

To make your choice making a more conscious experience, you must -- in a sense -- 'short-circuit' the subconscious mind, and undoubtedly this requires some effort on your part. While initially you may find it quite challenging to bring more of your choice making to the level of consciousness, with practice you will find it increasingly easy to do so. Your objective should be to become as conscious as possible regarding all of the choices that you do make. However, given the myriad choices that you make on a daily basis (e.g., thoughts, words, actions), it is only natural that you will continue to make a number of them on a subconscious level.

My recommendation is that you not drive yourself crazy with this, rather just make your best efforts to develop personal awareness of the various choices that you are making, by learning to step back and observe them (i.e., from the perspective of "the witness" that Eckhart Tolle refers to in "A New Earth" and "The Power of Now") as you make them. Through this simple act of witnessing, you actually take the entire process from the unconscious realm into the conscious realm. Finally, throughout this process always remember to have patience with yourself, for as the old adage goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day."

(The preceding article is an adapted excerpt from Spirituality Simplified, Copyright 2002, by Jeff Maziarek.)

About the Author
Jeff Maziarek is an inspirational speaker and author. His first book, Spirituality Simplified, is an easy-to-understand and entertaining work that provides an ideal starting point for anyone with a sincere desire to pursue a path of personal and/or spiritual growth. His second book, Codi's Journey, is a memoir about his Border Collie who passed away in 2005. It is slated for release in late 2008. To subscribe to Jeff's free daily inspirational emails called "PONDER on THIS," please visit http://www.pondercentral.com.